DELEGATES TO West Midlands Regional Council of Manufacturing Science Finance (MSF), one of the main trade unions with members at Rover, have backed a demand for public ownership.
Delegate Dave Nellist, former Coventry Labour MP and now a Socialist Party councillor) moved the motion calling for public ownership, which gave “100% support to Rover workers and those in the component industry, in the battle to save jobs.
“Unions should be given immediate access to the books of BMW to see how subsidies, profits and internal transfers have affected the financial health of the business.
“With tens of thousands of jobs affected there should be no excuse of ‘business secrecy’ hiding the facts from those most closely involved.
“[We] demand an end to asset stripping and no movement of production facilities without the agreement of all plants concerned.”
The resolution concludes “the ownership of Rover, which BMW has given away, should now be transferred to the public sector.”
